PS: Because of the blogger strangeness and the deletion of Google Friend connect for non-blogger blogs, please follow me on Linky in my right sidebar, just a little bit down from the top. I love my readers and would be so sad to loose you! Thanks! ♥

Sunday, February 19, 2012

I've been featured in a couple lovely treasuries lately! Many thanks to the treasury makers!
(All treasuries and items within the treasuries are clickable.)

Audrey from Buffalo Creek Crafts featured my hand dyed and hand painted silk velvet zipper pouch in her appreciation treasury Thank You #19. Here's what she says, "These are all shops that have added me to one of their treasuries in the last couple of days :) Thanks so much!!"

What a great idea for a treasury, Audrey!

I had featured her lovely ceramic LOVE coaster coaster (left) in my treasury Sweet Hearts. This coaster is lovely AND she donates a portion of the proceeds to a Homeless Shelter and a Shelter for Battered Women!

Audrey makes lovely crochet items, cards, and coasters. How cute is this bookmark?! Really, you simply have to visit her shop to see the variety of lovely items she sells!

Heather from Blu Kat Design featured my hand dyed silk scarf Margarita in her treasury Cockatoo Margarita. Here's what she says about this treasury. "pantone 2012 cockatoo and margarita; reminds me of an updated version of the 70's blue and green combo!"Aaaahhh.....Now I'm dreaming of frolicking in the sun on a tropical isle!

Heather's shop is filled with unique jewelry, much of it upcycled such as this lovely rhinestone and pearl flower necklace. Visit her shop to see all her wonderful pieces!

Here are recent treasuries I made:

Sweet Hearts

and

Sweet Love

I'm linking my Treasury Round Up with Rose's blog Random Creative. Come see more treasuries here and link up your own treasury posts! Rose will leave the linky up through this Saturday.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Throughout the world, many symbols are used to express love. Here, I concern myself with one, the most recognizable, the heart.

The ♥ symbol has long been used to express the core of a human--physically or emotionally, spiritually, and morally. Even farther back in time, the ♥ was used to express the intellectual core of a person, the seat of the human mind. Today, in our culture, we associate the ♥ with love.

So without further ado, I introduce you to my favorite etsy team's February Challenge:

"In February we celebrate Valentine's Day. My challenge to you: Create a love-themed item. You can write a creative love letter, make a valentine, make a love-themed home decor item, etc. Be Creative and Have Fun!"

This Challenge was presented by Edi of Memories for Life in honor of the Month of Love

I was inspired to get my fabric dyes out and create some heart shapes on clothing.

THIS

and THIS

became THIS

became THIS

and

THIS

I recently purchased cotton wash cloths and had already tie dyed some. I wanted to create painted ones, too. So I started the process of dyeing 4 cloths:

1. tie 3 circles on each of 2 cloths

2. soak all 4 in solution; wring out

3. dye the circles and background color

4. cure for 24 hours

5. untie and wash

6. soak all 4 in solution; wring out

7. let dry

8. paint

9. let cure for 24 hours

10. wash and dry

That is the process in brief!

To paint, I laid out my towels (lovely, aren't they?!) and set up my supplies.

I mixed powdered dye with thickener and water and began to paint! (You can faintly make out the 3 circles--soon to be flowers--in the photo above.)

the flowers start to take shape

and more hearts

hearts

At this point the cloths are still thick with the dye paint. After curing and washing, they look like this:

All the above can be found in my etsy shop, Splendid Little Stars. (In answer to a question in the comments below: No, my dyed items do NOT bleed! I use professional dye and have perfected my processes over a number of years!)

To see what other teammates have created for this challenge, check out our team BLOG at the end of February.

A new etsy team--Blogging Business Artisans--was launched last October. This team was formed to support and help its members grow artistically and professionally. It's been a great joy to be a member of this team!

The idea was conceived of holding monthly challenges to help us grow and stretch our imaginations. Team members must complete 6 of the 12 challenges within a year.
The first challenge, "New Techniques," was presented by Deb of storybeader See my entry "New Mittens, Old Sweater! a Challenge!" HERE.

I put this card together at my friend Ginny Lee's house last night. She made the wonderful heart with the flower. The glittery red felt heart has a front and back hand stitched together. The white heart is hand stitched to the red heart. The flower (She made it!) and pearl are glued on. The heart along with its attached paper clip is a bookmark that can be removed! A lot of work and love went into this! Thanks, Ginny Lee!

About Me

Margaret, an artsy girl, living in the suburbs of a big city with acres of woods behind my house..... loves nature, photography, cooking (sometimes), gardening, hiking, bicycling, exploring new places, friends, laughter, and making artsy-crafty things.

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Please note that ALL photographs, images, and text, unless otherwise indicated, on this blog have been created by, and are the property of, the blog owner. These photographs, images, and words may not be copied, saved, or reproduced in any form, or distributed without written permission of the blog owner. Copyright 2009-2016 Thanks!